Pricewatch!

July 13th, 2012, 21:43

Originally Posted by Thrasher
Sounds like you are both taking me too literally. Large number of independent control inputs in the form of pages of buttons, numbers, or what have you is what I see. Hard to get excited by that.

Until you actually play the game. Somehow the game manages to get you emotionally attached to your characters, even though they are, in reality, little more than a bunch of stats on a screen.

Picked up Grimrock due to generally positive reviews. The Bard's Tale though I'm not certain about it since I didn't like the demo when it came out. Assassin's Creed Revelations (at 75% off during flash deal 4hr left) because I generally liked the previous ones. One of the Tomb Raider games because I'm feeling nostalgic and it was $2.50 during a flash deal. And finally the Indie Games 2 because the Universe Simulator looks like it will be fun for 5 minutes and it was 75% off.

Spent more than I was planning on and I still have a huge back log but I consider it a small contribution back the the economy. Hoping the devs get a decent cut and not all goes back to valve.

GOG currently has Ubisoft titles (among them being simulation games) 50 % off this weekend.

Their newsletter mentions THe Settlers 2 … If you want to take a look at the "wusel" thing / the "wusel-factor", and what had made the The Settlers series so popular among Germans in the first place, then it would be a good way to look at it.

I don't know, howevr, if they are marketing the original Settlers game from the 90s (which many still believe is/was their best Settlers game) or th new remake from a few years ago - which looks modern, but has the same functionality.

Edit : It's the original Settlers 2 game. The "Gold" version (which includes all expansions & patches).

It could even be - if you are lucky - that this is the newly-compiled version of it they ran through an compiler to adapt on modern systems and that was exclusively available here only with the Collector's Edition of the remake of the Settlers 2 a few years ago, as far as I know.

From the screenshots presented there only the third presents actual gameplay - the others show diverse building and stats options, hence the yellow symbols on the ground (they indicate where something can be built upon.).

The "Heritage Of Kings" (aka Settlers V) Settlers game they resent there is much like Spellforce - and it plays like an RTS, not at all like a Settlers game. Personally, I don't like it at all nowadays, but it was popular then as well, because it was the very first Settlers game where they had thrown out everything cute and wusel and preseted real humans to he customers. Bu in fact, it plays like an RTS to me. And it has a horrible, horrible not at all into the setting/scenery fitting German "advisor" voice everyone had criticised, but which had never been taken out.

If you liked Spellforce, then you might prhaps like this as well. In fact, I had played bioth at the same time, then, and t one point I couldn't find any difference between both nymore (apart from the roleplaying part that's missing in the Settlrs game), at which point I quit both and have never played them again. They made the famous SEttlers game into RTS, which was somthing I could never forgive them, no matter how strongly they were claimed (and still do) that The Settlers were (meant to be) RTS from the beginning on.

To m, The Settlers was always about building and "wusel", never about RTS. And I do know at least some people who think of it in a similar way.

(Maybe the "wusel"-effect found in Tropico 1 had something to do with this game being popular in Germany, too.)

The Black Isle saga was a hugely popular turn-based strategy game in the early 90s, but I know next to nothing about it, only tht there was a turn-based shooter game with role-playing lements called Incubation" once, which was a spin-off of this series.

--  Any intelligent fool can make things bigger, more complex, and more violent. It takes a touch of genius  and a lot of courage  to move in the opposite direction. (E.F.Schumacher, Economist, Source)

Originally Posted by wiretripped
I can confirm there aren't any. In fact, I don't think there's a single slider in the game.

There are a few, laws for example,crown authority, tax percentages, levy etc… are sliders.

The big difference is that managing an equilibrium between the various slider data is not a core feature.

And most decisions are also a one shot decision. You do not have to constantly revise them to adjust, looking for optimization of benefits.

Once the heir is married, he is married. Once landed, he is landed. Reversing a decision happens. But it is not a common event. Micro management is heavily reduced as you can put most decisions behind you, without constantly bothering to revise them.

Originally Posted by Gorath
Bought a couple of classics in the Steam sale

Me too . So far I've bought…

- Legend of Grimrock = 5.59
- Two Worlds 2 Bundle = 9.99
- Divine Divinity = 3.34 (I've only had like a dozen different versions of this game already… from the German to the UK to the US DVD retail and on to the GOG digital version but Steam was missing so there ya go )
- Hitman 2 Silent Assassin = 2.49
- Hitman: Blood Money = 2.49

Would have bought Saints Row 3rd due to many positive comments and reviews but unfortunately Steam is only selling the "Low Violence" version to us German customers so it's not even worth a thought *sigh*.

Originally Posted by ToddMcF2002
Please try Numen and let us know if it is worth a damn. Really bad reviews but I tend to ignore reviews. Every once in a while I'm tempted to grab Loki or Silverfall as well

I just finished playing through the prologue.

I don't think it's nearly as bad as some of the comments I've seen about it. The production values are average at best, but the atmosphere is decent, and I'm finding it entertaining enough for the price.

It's definitely more akin to Diablo or Titan Quest than something like Gothic. Although the camera and controls are more similar to the latter. You move with a WASD scheme, and you can zoom the camera into a third-person mode that feels like Two Words, etc. Combat boils down to simply clicking on an enemy and has sort of an MMO feel to it. You have a hot bar with a variety of skills that you can activate by clicking directly or via a hotkey.

From what I've seen so far, the game is completely open-world. The prologue takes place on a fairly small map during your youth, but the next area seems to be considerably larger. You choose your gender at the beginning, and then you choose what god you will follow at the end of the prologue. You also determine what your primary combat path (Warrior, Mage, or Hunter) will be by what type of style you use the most during that first area. That also determines what gods you can choose from.

The game is a loot-fest. Almost everything you kill will drop at least one item, and you'll be upgrading your character constantly.

The buildings and environments are well drawn, and the game gives off a Clash of the Titans type vibe. There are enough random NPCs doing various things to make the towns feel alive, but you can't speak to everyone, and dialogue in general is pretty simple.

Overall, it definitely has a "budget" feel to it, but I haven't played far enough to fully rate it. I'd say it's worth the $2.50 I paid for it though. You should check it out while it's still on sale.